It's such a fitting characterization, Mr. Tsing, that I almost feel you deserve royalties for its use.
13 Russian nationals indicted for interfering in US elections
- Thread starter gwb-trading
- Start date
DOJ Complaint: The Russians Organized A Rally Called "Trump Is NOT My President"
Late last year, when the Trump-Russia collusion narrative was peaking, something unexpected emerged: back on November 12, 2016, an event organized by BlackMatters US, a 'leftist', anti-Trump group drew thousands of people to protest against the just elected President Trump.
... there was just one detail: BlackMattersUS emerged as a Russian-linked group.
As the Hill reported, "the BlackMatters organizing group was connected to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian “troll farm” with ties to the Kremlin, according to a recent investigation by the Russian Magazine RBC.
And now it's confirmed: from Section 57 of the DOJ complaint against the Russian trolls who "interfered, but did not impact" the outcome of the election:
As we said back then:
Of course, this - together with the other facts previously noted in the DOJ complaint - is why Mueller radically shifted his task, and instead of proving "collusion" by the Trump campaign, showed an unsoliciated campaign by 13 Russians who were tasked to 'use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump—we support them)' and managed to troll the US so hard, and somehow had a greater impact on the outcome of the election than the US media, entertainment and polling industries combined.
Late last year, when the Trump-Russia collusion narrative was peaking, something unexpected emerged: back on November 12, 2016, an event organized by BlackMatters US, a 'leftist', anti-Trump group drew thousands of people to protest against the just elected President Trump.
... there was just one detail: BlackMattersUS emerged as a Russian-linked group.
As the Hill reported, "the BlackMatters organizing group was connected to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian “troll farm” with ties to the Kremlin, according to a recent investigation by the Russian Magazine RBC.
Facebook has identified the IRA as the group responsible for purchasing 3,000 political ads on Facebook’s platform and operating 470 accounts that appear to have attempted to influence the perspectives of Americans during the 2016 elections.
And now it's confirmed: from Section 57 of the DOJ complaint against the Russian trolls who "interfered, but did not impact" the outcome of the election:
After the election of Donald Trump in or around November 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used false U.S. personas to organize and coordinate U.S. political rallies in support of then president-elect Trump, while simultaneously using other false U.S. personas to organize and coordinate U.S. political rallies protesting the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. For example, in or around November 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators organized a rally in New York through one ORGANIZATION-controlled group designed to "show your support for President-Elect Donald Trump" held on or about November 12, 2016. At the same time, Defendants and their co-conspirators, through another ORGANIZATION-controlled group, organized a rally in New York called "Trump is NOT my President" held on or about November 12, 2016. Similarly, Defendants and their co-conspirators organized a rally entitled "Charlotte Against Trump" in Charlotte, North Carolina, held on or about November 19, 2016.
As we said back then:
"so the Russians spent $100,000 and created 0.004% of social media content to influence the election... and then the same Russians continued to help President Trump by unifying black and white Americans to protest against him."
Of course, this - together with the other facts previously noted in the DOJ complaint - is why Mueller radically shifted his task, and instead of proving "collusion" by the Trump campaign, showed an unsoliciated campaign by 13 Russians who were tasked to 'use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump—we support them)' and managed to troll the US so hard, and somehow had a greater impact on the outcome of the election than the US media, entertainment and polling industries combined.
It's been wildly reported that the Russians played both sides, favoring Trump heavily. That's never been questioned.
Right. Russians weren't trying to get Trump elected. They were trying to sow discord. They knew Trump was the most controversial of the candidates and sought to promote him more because it brought more controversy. It was a classic psy-ops campaign. And you know what? It worked. We are more divided than ever.